Ingredients
2 kg whole chicken, free range
orange zest, from 1 big orange
100 g butter
3 oranges, or 2 large oranges
1 lemon
2 carrots
1 big onion
1 garlic head
1 spring rosemary
3 sage leaves
1 spring thyme
parsley
salt
pepper
1 cup chicken stock, low sodium
Preparation
Bring out the chicken about half an hour before use so it comes to room temperature.
Pat the chicken with a kitchen towel so it is dry.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C or 400 degrees F
Loosen the skin on the breast of the chicken carefully using sliding your fingers under the skin or with the back of a spoon.
Season the chicken including the cavity with salt and black pepper
Cut the carrots into chunks, cut the garlic bulb in halves then the onions, oranges and lemon in quarters then place in the roasting pan.
Reserve 2 orange wedges and lemon for later. Set aside and proceed to prep the chicken.
Finely chop the herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme and parsley) and add to the butter then mix to combine with the orange zest.
If the butter is still hard, place it in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften it.
First, rub the herb butter on the back of the chicken then place it on the vegetable bed in the roasting pan breast side up.
Rub the herb butter under the loosened skin of the bird and all over it including the cavity.
Stuff the cavity with the reserved lemon and orange wedges.
Place the chicken in the oven and roast until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the bird reads 165 degrees C/75 degrees F.
For my chicken size, I roasted for about 2 hours, that is 30 minutes for every 0.5 kilograms of the bird.
